draws lines on a map showing where a user
has walked.
GPS data revealed that searchers were covering
the same areas repeatedly as heavy foliage or
natural barriers like cliffs blocked their path,
Berquist said. Organizers started dropping
digital pins on volunteers’ maps to give them
targets, pushing volunteers to cover more
ground and making the search more accurate.
When searchers ran into cliffs or pools of water,
Berquist had them place digital pins on their
maps. Organizers then sent drone pilots or
rappelling experts to the cliffs and divers to
the water.
Organizers fed the GPS data to the California
team, which used SARTopo to overlay it on
topographical maps, allowing everyone to see
what areas had already been searched and what
still needed to be checked.
Matt Jacobs, a California software engineer
and search volunteer, developed SARTopo
more than eight years ago after noticing teams
struggling to match details on wilderness maps
drawn by different agencies.
What started as a hobby project has grown in
popularity in the past couple of years to become
Jacobs’ full-time job. Search and rescue teams
from Oregon to North Carolina have started
using it.
Searchers used it in March as 100 volunteers
fanned out in a Northern California forest,
eventually finding 8-year-old Leia Carrico and
her 5-year-old sister, Caroline, who got lost near
their home.
Last month, teams used it to help locate a
67-year-old hiker who had veered off a trail in
a state park north of San Francisco. A California
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